A: If you notice your child has difficult with any of the following:
A: Call Family Chatterbox at (651) 322-0118, or head over to the contact us page and send us a message! After the initial contact is made we will typically setup a meeting at a coffee shop (Family Chatterbox’s treat of course) to meet, go over paperwork and setup a schedule that works for you and your family.
A: A speech and language evaluation typically consists of a parent interview, clinician observation, and some form of assessments (i.e. checklists, standardized assessments, informal assessments etc.). An evaluation usually falls somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes.
A: Family chatterbox offers services in the practical setting of the home. It capitalizes on the use of the child’s own toys, routines, environment, objects, and people/family. Therapy provided in the schools vary greatly on the length and frequency of services based on the child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). A child’s IEP may only qualify the child for a limited number of minutes of therapy and may include time spent on indirect time/”push in” to the classroom, or teacher consults. Both of these “minutes” of therapy do not directly involve the child. A school therapist may also see children in a group of 2-3 for therapy, and do not have the luxury of matching students who are addressing the similar goals. Family Chatterbox offers the undivided attention and focus of a trained therapist to meet the specific needs of your child. Family Chatterbox takes the utmost respect and input of the family’s needs and desires, and chooses goals that directly affect the child in their most consistent environment, the home.
A: Family Chatterbox has made the decision to not accept insurance. The reason for making this decision is multi-faceted. In many cases, insurance companies as a whole do not recognize speech and language therapy as an important, needed service. In the rare case that insurance is willing to pay for speech services, they often place limitations on the quality, visits, and date range of speech therapy that can be provided. Along with limited amount of visits that could be insured, the goals and therapy provided can often be completely directed by attempting to meet certain insurance criteria rather than focusing on what will ultimately be most beneficial for the child. Lastly, and perhaps the biggest reason why we have chosen to not accept insurance is because as the current policies stand, in order to qualify for any in home speech services the client must be “medically home bound” meaning that they have to have some form of medical condition that prevents them from leaving the home. We firmly believe that speech therapy in the home is the best place to learn, develop and practice speech therapy. We have seen results that typically take 3-4 months to accomplish in a clinical setting completed in 3-4 weeks in the home. Being able to work in the home, where the client is most comfortable and utlizing their toys and their real life situations, provides the opportunity for incredible growth and progress. As a result Family Chatterbox accepts: Cash, check, and/or all major credit cards - a 5-dollar fee will be added to all credit card transactions. We do accept HSA and FSA and will supply a detailed itemized receipt upon request.
"We previously had speech therapy for 5 months prior and saw more progress with Family Chatterbox in a month than we did in the previous 5" -Heather- Edina